The Andover Companies
Carrier website links, underwriting access points, mapped product lines, and appetite notes in one place.
This appetite summary is only a guide. Confirm eligibility, submission requirements, restrictions, and binding authority directly with the carrier or underwriter before relying on it.
Carrier appetite summary
The Andover Companies is a regional property-focused carrier writing personal and small commercial business through appointed independent agents in the Northeast and Illinois. Their published materials emphasize a conservative, quality‑risk orientation and a strong preference for well-maintained property accounts supported by local agents. PREFERRED / TARGET BUSINESS - Personal: Owner-occupied 1–4 family homes and condos, standard to higher-value dwellings, written on the Superior Home Insurance Protection Plan form. They highlight automatic extended dwelling protection, replacement cost features, and the ability to customize via endorsements (home systems, service line, water backup, scheduled personal property, cyber, identity theft), which effectively favors well-kept, insurance-to-value risks with good maintenance and higher deductibles where appropriate. - Personal umbrella: Preferred as an excess layer over well-structured underlying home/auto programs, with an electronic umbrella renewal questionnaire being rolled out to support ongoing underwriting and limit management. Umbrella is positioned for households with meaningful assets and multi-policy relationships. - Commercial: Small businessowners risks (BOP) including lessors risk and habitational/investment property owners. Their AM Best report notes they focus on more desirable risks based on insurance score and maintain low underwriting leverage, indicating appetite for smaller, better-than-average loss prospects rather than distressed or CAT-prone accounts. - Commercial excess liability: Newer excess liability product for business insureds, with modernized forms and limits up to $5,000,000, marketed as a solution for existing Andover commercial customers needing higher liability limits. RESTRICTED / DECLINED TENDENCIES (INFERRED) - Coastal and CAT-exposed property: Public filings and annual reports state they have introduced specific coastal surcharges, more granular pricing, and tightened rating relativity for higher-value homes, with an explicit goal of protecting a core inland book. This indicates a more selective appetite in near‑shore coastal zones and for high‑value coastal dwellings; expect higher pricing, surcharges, or non‑renewal for marginal coastal risks. - Older, poorly maintained property: Market conduct and AM Best materials emphasize adherence to an underwriting manual, property condition inspections, and use of insurance score to focus on more desirable risks. Combined with landlord checklists and extensive property maintenance tip sheets (water, fire, wood stoves, frozen pipes, ice dams, lithium‑ion batteries), this implies reduced tolerance for deferred maintenance, undisclosed hazards, or failure to remedy inspection recommendations. - Large or complex commercial risks: Their positioning as a regional mutual with a modest commercial footprint and focus on small BOP-type accounts suggests limited or no appetite for large, highly specialized, or heavy-hazard commercial operations; in practice, these are typically out of appetite except possibly on a very selective basis. GEOGRAPHIC NOTES - Core footprint: They describe themselves as one of the largest regional mutuals in the Northeast, and their own and third‑party materials repeatedly reference writing personal homeowners and small business in the Northeast and Illinois. Expect primary focus on New England and nearby Northeast states with some expansion into Illinois via independent agencies. - Distribution: All products are sold exclusively through independent agents with whom they have close, long-term relationships; there is no direct-to-consumer distribution. SUBMISSION & UNDERWRITING PRACTICE NOTES - Access & submissions: New business is placed via appointed independent agencies using Andover’s agent portal. There is no public appetite guide or manual on the website; underwriting guidance and appetite details are delivered directly to agents through internal tools and underwriting teams. - Documentation & inspections: Company materials and regulatory reports emphasize use of an underwriting manual, semi‑annual audits of written business, and automated inspection management tools. Agents should expect underwriting to request home inspections, mortgagee or lender details, and to rely on property condition photos and inspection results as part of new business and renewal review. - Pricing & rating focus: Recent annual reports describe strategic initiatives around adequate insurance-to-value, rate increases, deductible adjustments, and coastal surcharges. Personal lines have moved toward more granular pricing by home value and risk characteristics, and commercial lines toward refined coastal and excess liability pricing. - Renewals & dashboards: Underwriters are supported by internal dashboards that consolidate BI and third‑party data for risk evaluation; this supports more data-driven renewal decisions, particularly around property characteristics, location, and prior loss experience. BROKER / PRODUCER INSTRUCTIONS (PUBLIC-FACING) - Agent-only channel: The site and external agent‑resource listings stress that Andover writes exclusively through independent agencies; prospective insureds are directed to a ‘Find an Agent’ tool rather than contacting underwriting directly. - Relationship orientation: Marketing language emphasizes long-term partnerships with agencies that demonstrate strong character, professionalism, and loss results. While not an explicit rule, this signals that appointment, production, and book quality matter; agencies should expect close coordination with underwriters and that poor loss ratios or frequent exceptions to guidelines will be scrutinized. There is no publicly posted, detailed risk-class appetite or line‑by‑line decline list; class, limit, and condition tolerances continue to be managed primarily via internal underwriting manuals and direct underwriter–agent communication. Use the above as directional guidance and confirm specifics with the assigned Andover underwriter for any borderline home, commercial umbrella, or BOP/account placement.